Hinge



April 16, 1935. s. H. JOHNSON HINGE Filed July 3, 1933 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 I lllllL-ll ll l ll lll llllll wl April 16, 1935. v G. H. JVOHNSON HINGE 7 Filed July 3, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 April 935. I v H. JOHNSON 1,998,319

nines Filed July 3, 1933 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 20 /JZ- Z0 10 J J2 v v I I f 7////%||E f i p%\ Patented Apr. 16, 1935 HINGE George H. Johnson, Rockford, 111., assignor to The Atwood Vacuum Machine Company, Rock ford, 11]., a copartnership composed of James '1.

Atwood and Seth B. Atwood Application July 3, 1933, Serial No. 678,789

1 Claim.

This invention relates to hinges for the doors of motor vehicles and is particularly concerned with a novel type of hinge and mounting therefor with a view to avoiding any projection of the hinge from the body and keeping the hinge' 'completely concealed.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a hinge which in its preferred form has the member on the body slidable inwardly and outwardly in a guide and has the other member on the door connected with mechanism for imparting sliding movement to the body member in the swinging of the door in opening and closing, wherebyto move the hinge axis of the door outwardly from a point behind the plane of the outside of the body in the opening of the door for the required clearance between the door and body, and to return the hinge axis in the closing of the door. It is realized that any suitable means may be provided for suppor't of the body member to allow for movement thereof in and out, and the invention in its broader aspect is, therefore, more concerned with the provision of means operable by the door member in its swinging movement relative to the body member to cause the latter to move a predetermined distance in the opening of the"door,- according to the extent of bulge of the body which the door has to clear in p ning.

Other objects of the invention will be made to appear in the course of the following detailed description in which reference is made to the accompanying drawings, wherein-- Figure 1 is a side view of a portion of an automobile body. showing the flush exterior secured at the joint line .of the door when hinges made in accordance with my invention are used;

Fig. 2 is a view looking in the direction indicated by the line 2j-'-2 of Figure 1, showing the door opened; A

Fig. 3 is a section on the line of Figure 1, on a larger scale, showing the concealed hinge in plan view; 7 I

I Fig. 4 is a view on the line 414 of Fig. 3 looking at the end of the hinge;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary elevational detail of a hinge along the lines of Fig. 3, showing a modified or alternative construction;

Fig. 6 isj a section, on the line 6-6 of Fig. 2, showing the hinge parts in the positions assumed when the door is opened; I t Fig. 'I is a face view of the parts appearing in Fig.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary detail of a hinge along Fig. 13 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing still another hinge operating on the same principle as the others but having the body member suspended on an oscillating link instead of slidable in a guide;

Figs. 14 and 15 are horizontal sections of this hinge showing the door in closed and open positions, respectively, and

Fig. 16 is a vertical section on the broken line flt-i of Fig. 14.

Similar reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts throughout the views. I

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 4, 6 and 7, Hi indicates a portion of an automobile body on which a door it is hinged. The hinges, in accordance with this invention, are completely concealed and are, therefore, indicated in dotted lines at 12 and it in Figure 1 in proper relation to the joint line M of the door H. Since the hinges do not project, the exterior of the body is substantially flush at the jont line M, which is something par ticularly desirable in stream-line designs.

Each hinge proper is similar to an ordinary butt type hinge and comprises members it and it pivotally connected by a pintle H. The member 15, because of its mounting on the body it, will for convenience be referred to as the body member, and the member iii will be referred to'as the door member, since it is fastened by screws id to the door H. Of course, any suitable fastening might be provided for the door member it. A plate i9, suitably secured to the door pillar 20 of the body it, as by screws 2!; has guideways 22 along the top and bottom edges slidably receiving the body member of the hinge for movement from the retracted position shown in Fig. 3, to the extended position shown in Figs. 6 and '7. It is necessary to have the body member i5 move, out in the opening of the door in order tobring the hinge axis H from a point behind the plane of the outside of the body to a point far enough outside the body so that the door has the required 7 clearance with reference to the body in its swinging movement with respect thereto. The need for this comes not only from the fact that the hinge axis I1 is behind the plane of the outside of the body when the door is closed (see Fig. 3), but also because of the fact that the door and body are outwardly bulged and the body would interfere with the movement of the door if the hinge axis were notmoved out to the proper distance (see Fig. 6). .Movement may be communicated to the body member IS in several diiierent ways, as we shall see presently, but the mechanism for accomplishing this in the hinge now under consideration comprises an actuating lever 23 pivoted intermediate its ends, as at 24, on the body member 5, and connected at its opposite ends to the door member I 6 and guide IS. The connection between the door member l6 and lever 23 is provided by a link 25 pivoted at one end to the door member It, as at 26, and at the other end to the lever 23, as at 21. The operating connection between the lever 23 and guide I! is provided by another link 28 pivotally connected at one end to the guide l9, as at 23,-and at the other end to the lever 23, as at 30. The body member I5 is slotted, as at 3|, to allow the lever 23 to project therethrough, and another slot 32 is provided in the guide |9 through which the lever 23 projects for its link connection with the bracket 33 on the back of the guide Hi. There are really two links in a couple both at "and 28, butof course, these details may besimplifled by the use in each of these two instances of a single link having a forked end, such as that shown at 25 in Fig. 8. It is also apparent that instead of having the link connection 23, the lever 23 could be extended slightly, as

shown at 23' in Fig. 5,-and many a cross-pin 34 a in the end thereof for sliding engagement in an elongated slot 35 provided in a bracket 33' on the back of the guide I! to provide a seat for the door member l3 of the hinge, and another recess 3'! is provided in the door pillar 23' to provide a seat for the guide Is. It is alsonecessary to provide a small recess 33in the pillar for the projecting end of the lever 23 and its link connection 23 with the guide t9. Inasmuch as the hinge will be furnished completely assembled to the car manufacturer, it is necessary to provide holes 33 in the body member I! of the hinge in register with two of the holes 43 in the guide I! for the screws 2| which fasten the guide to the pillar. The holes 39 come in register with the holes 40 in the open position of the door, as clearly shown in Fig. 7.

In operation, assuming the door H is closed as illustrated in Fig. 3, it should be clear from the foregoing description that as the door starts to open, the link 23 exerts a pull upon the outer end of the actuating lever 23 tending to move the same in a clockwise direction, as the parts are viewed in Fig. 3. As a result, the fulcrum 24 of the lever 23 is caused to move outwardly relative to the body II), that is, to the left as the parts are viewed in Fig. 6, owing to the fact that the inner end of the lever 23 is tied tothe guide l9 by the link connection 23, or pin and slot connection shown in Fig. 5; as the case may be. :The movement of the door in opening is limited by the engagement of the lever 23 with-the end of the slot 32 in the guide, as clearly appears in Fig. 6. On the other hand, in the closing of the door,

the link 25 pushes the outer end of the lever 23 to the right as the parts are viewed in Fig. 6,

thus moving the lever 23 in a counter-clockwise direction and causing the fulcrum 24 to move to the right, that is, inwardly relative to the body In. In other words, in the opening of the ddor the hinge axis I1 is moved from a point behind the plane of the outside of the body (Fig. 3) to a. point a predetermined distance outside the body (Fig. 6), and in the closingof the door, the hinge axis is returned. By virtue of this hinge construction, I secure a flush exterior at the joint line. The absence ofthe unsightly projecting hinges greatly improves the appearance of the car and, of course, such a feature is particularly appropriate for cars of streamlineddesign.

The hinge l2, illustrated in Figs. 9 to 12, differs from that just described mainly in the matter of the mechanism for sliding the body member I! back and forth in the swinging movement of the door member l6 relative thereto in the closing and opening of the door. In this form of the invention, a gear sector 4| is mounted on the door member l6 and has internal teeth meshing with a spur gear 42 of a gear cluster 42-43 mounted on a spindle 44 on the body member IS. The latter is slidable in ways 22' provided in a guide IQ for movement to and from the extended position shown in Fig. 12. The

respect to'the body in the travel of the gear 43 along the rack 43. The reverse is true in the closing of the door. The opening of the door is limited, as shown in Fig.12, by the engagement of the door panel with the back of the body member l3, although, of course, any other method of limiting the movement might be used.

The hinges shown in Figs. 13 to 16 closely resemble that of Figs. 9 to 12. The principal difference lies in the substitution of a supporting link 43 for the body member l3" of each of the hinges l2" and II" in place of the guide IS. The link 43 is pivoted at its lower. end to the inwardly and outwardly movable body member I3",- as indicated at 41, and is supported at its upper end on the door pillar of the body on a suitable pivot stud 43. A guide 43 on the door pillar holds the link 43 in a certain plane for oscillation to and fro in the opening and closing of the door,

and may also be relied upon for limiting the movement of the door in opening, as by simply providing a stop thereon for engagement with the link 43. In this form, as in the one of Figs. 9 to 12, a sector 4| carried on the door member l3" turns the gear 42' so-as to rotate the companion gear 43' of the cluster and cause it to travel along the rack 45' fastened to the door pillar. The gear 43' in this construction is provided with teeth of suiilcient width to maintain meshing engagement with the rack 43' in any position of the link 43, it being apparent that as the links swing outwardly, the door will be raised slightly and as the links swing inwardly the door is lowered to its normal elevation.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages ofZmy invention. The showing of several diflerent constructions should serve to indicate in a measure to what extent the structure of the present invention may be modified without de- Iclaim: other hinge member, said guide having a slot In a hinge and mounting therefor, the comprovided therein for the projection therethrough bination of relatively pivoted hinge members, a of the inner end of said lever, said lever having guide whereon one of saidmembers is reciprooscillatory movement in said slot in the recip- 5 ca e, an actuating lever for procating said rocatory movement of the hinge member, and 5 last-mentioned member mounted thereon for 05- one end of said slot serving by abutment therecillation, means providing a movable pivotal conwith of the lever to limit movement of the hinge neetion between the innerend of said lever'and member in one direction. said. guide, and means providing a link connec- 10 'tion between the outer end of said lever and the V GEORGE H. JOHNSOfI. l0 

